


Just to see what people see

by enchantedsleeper



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And a little bit of crack, Domestic Avengers, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Feelschat with the assist, Fluff and Smut, Het and Slash, M/M, Multi, No Plot/Plotless, OT6, Playing fast and loose with POV, competence²
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-07 22:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1916505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enchantedsleeper/pseuds/enchantedsleeper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to seratonation's 'I need you near'. On a snowy day in New York, the six Avengers enjoy some quality down-time in their usual haphazard fashion. Pepper can't decide whether to be fond, exasperated or fondly exasperated, but luckily multi-tasking is her speciality. Phil is as deadpan as ever, except when he's being devious. </p><p>They draw the line at group sex in the kitchen, though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just to see what people see

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I need you near](https://archiveofourown.org/works/862658) by [seratonation](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seratonation/pseuds/seratonation). 



> It's my first _Avengers_ fic! In the words of the Eleventh Doctor, "I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS!" I've never written a romantic relationship with more than two people before, but hey, there's a first time for everything, and everyone's poly because Avengers, so there you go. I have many, many Avengers plot bunnies and fics which are partly written in my head and some which are partly written on my computer, but this was the first bunny that hopped its way to the finish line.
> 
> Thanks so much to seratonation for being awesome and encouraging my madcap idea for a sequel to her fanfic, which is adorable and full of snuggles and warm fuzzy feelings <3 I've re-read it so many times, and most of those weren't even for reference purposes xD The Phil/Pepper is entirely my addition, and it's honestly not a pairing I've even thought about shipping before, but it just seemed to work in this context. The two of them are like competence squared. 
> 
> Since I couldn't come up with a decent idea for a title on my own, I followed sera's example and took part of a line from 'Sleep' by OneRepublic. Even though no sleeping is actually done in this fanfic. xD
> 
> See the end notes for more inspiration and influences :)

Phil Coulson was used to seeing various expressions on Pepper’s face when she’d been dealing with Tony Stark: exasperation, irritation, fondness, reluctant amusement. But the honest-to-god _smirk_ that she wore when she came back into the kitchen-dining room was a new one.

He slid a fresh cup of coffee that he’d taken the liberty of pouring her across the table, and she curled her hands around it gratefully. He raised an eyebrow, inquiring after the source of her devious expression.

“He won’t be down for a few more hours,” she said simply, and her smirk became if possible even more wicked. Phil was seized with the breathless desire to lean forward and kiss it off her mouth.

“Oh?” he asked. “He was in bed, then.” When Pepper had left to rouse Tony at eight o’clock on the dot, she had remarked that she wasn’t even sure if she would find him in bed at all, because the last she’d seen of him, he’d been down in the workshop engrossed in some madcap new project to design a floating space heater or something. Pepper had related this information with a roll of the eyes.

“He was in bed,” Pepper confirmed, her eyes dancing.

“With someone? An Avenger,” Phil deduced. One of Tony’s myriad one-night stands wouldn’t have produced this much mirth in Pepper. She was used to finding **those** in his bed.

“Try five,” said Pepper slyly, sipping her coffee.

She couldn’t help but slightly fondly recall the scene that had greeted her in Tony’s bedroom: a tangle of sleeping Avengers, half clothed and thoroughly out for the count, a soft-edged and vulnerable contrast to the fierce and energetic personas they projected during the daytime. Clint had been cuddled up to Tony, face pressed to his shoulder, with Bruce all but spooning him from behind. Steve had an arm draped possessively over Bruce, his legs somehow tangled with Bruce _and_ Clint. Natasha had been curled up like a cat on the boys’ other side, with Thor’s large form bracketing hers, the heel of his bare foot pressed gently up against the small of Tony’s back. Bruce snored in soft rumbles, and Clint made a slight wheezing sound every time he breathed out, his eyelids fluttering as he dreamt.

Earth’s mightiest heroes, indeed. She’d never seen them looking so peaceful.

She shook away the image of the little scene and refocused on Phil, whose eyebrows were raised but who was otherwise unruffled by the revelation. Then again, almost nothing could ruffle Phil Coulson. As a veteran of SHIELD and liaison to the Avengers, he’d taken on the weirdest and worst things that Earth and various galaxies could throw at him, and proven equal to them. His unfailing calm and competence had grounded her in more situations than she could count. Tony often remarked that Coulson and Pepper’s combined competence and terrifying efficiency (possibly backed up with some Avengers firepower) could rule the world if they put their minds to the task. She didn’t know about that, but if the world were coming down around them, there was no-one else she’d rather have by her side.

Pepper stretched out one foot and slid it along the side of Phil’s as she smiled at him. “I told Tony I would cancel all his appointments for today. Never mind the fact that most of them are already cancelled because of the snow.” Yesterday’s blizzard had continued partway into the night and the resulting snow had frozen solid, leaving New York blanketed in several inches of glittering white and bringing the city to a near-standstill as workers slaved around the clock to clear the roads and pavements. Even with a few subway lines still operating, it was generally dangerous to set foot outside and many people across the city were snowed in.

It was Phil’s turn to smirk now. “I bet he loved you for that.”

“He did,” Pepper said, self-satisfied. “I’ll be using that to wrangle his participation in a few charity events I’ve got coming up.”

She turned her head to look at the clock on the wall. It was half-past eight. “How many hours do you think we have before they emerge?”

“I’d say at least three.”

“Three Avenger-free hours.” Pepper gave Phil a playful smile. “However will we pass the time?”

“How indeed, Ms. Potts.” Phil levelled her with a stare that was full of dark promise.

Five minutes later, Pepper was logging into “fury-in-a-tutu.tumblr.com” and Phil was making inspired headway with their latest Photoshop creation.

\--

Phil and Pepper had placed bets on which of the Avengers would make it down to the common area first. Pepper reckoned that if they brewed another pot of coffee, Tony’s sixth sense for caffeine would command him to seek it out, sleepy bedful of Avengers or no. Phil had noticed that Steve always made a point of eating breakfast as close to morning as he could no matter how skewed his sleeping patterns had become, and predicted that their team leader would be the first to set foot in the kitchen-dining room. To test the theory, Pepper went over to the state-of-the-art industrial-scale coffee machine in all its sleek chrome glory and set it to brew another full pot.

Only minutes after the smell of coffee had begun to fill the dining room, the ‘ping!’ of the elevator was heard followed by rapid barefoot steps heading towards them. “Coffee!” cried Tony as he appeared in the doorway. His voice was a sleep-laden rumble an octave lower than usual. Tony normally only sounded like that after crashing out for at least twenty hours following an extra-frantic stint in the workshop.

“Morning, Tony,” she said - because it technically still was, for a few more minutes at least - as he crossed the room at lightning speed with only one destination in mind.

“Morning, Pepper, hello, Coulson, is that coffee you brewed? For me? You are amazing, I probably don’t pay you enough, do I pay you enough?”

Pepper laughed, partly in surprise because Tony was never normally this chipper - or this vocal - before coffee. He must have slept _very_ soundly last night.

“You’ve never paid me enough, Tony,” she told him. “I manage somehow.” Tony busied himself with the coffee pot, and Pepper gave Phil a flirty stare over the tops of their laptops.

“I think this means I win?” she murmured, and his lips quirked in a poor imitation of a rueful smile.

“Losing bets is such a trial,” he mock-sighed. He got up, moved around to her side of the table and bent to press a lingering kiss to her lips.

“A public display of affection? From Agent Coulson? Scandalous!” Tony commentated from over his coffee mug, his voice shades closer to its usual pitch. “Well, for you, anyway.”

“You-” Pepper pulled herself away from Phil long enough to say, “knew I was going to win the bet-” pause, another kiss- “didn’t you?”

He levelled her with his best deadpan Agent Coulson gaze. “I never gamble without being confident it’ll have the desired outcome.” He gave her another heated kiss.

“Better,” Tony remarked, “but still nowhere near shocking enough. I’ll have to give you a demonstration. Watch and learn-” The coffee mug hit the counter with a chink and Tony crossed to the doorway in which Steve Rogers had just appeared wearing a loose T-shirt and pyjama bottoms, looking rumpled and disoriented. In the next second, Tony had yanked him down and fisted both hands in his T-shirt as he ravished Steve’s mouth. Steve stumbled a little (even super-soldiers could be caught off-balance) but swiftly recovered, sweeping his hands down the bare skin of Tony’s back, fingers teasing just under the waistband of Tony’s sweatpants.

“That’s nice, Tony,” said Pepper teasingly as Phil resumed his seat across from her at the table. A feather-light tread a moment later signalled that Natasha had entered the room.

“You’re blocking the doorway,” she informed them both. “Stark, move or I’m drinking the rest of your coffee.”

Steve very reluctantly dragged his head up, lips red and slightly bitten. “Nat- Natasha’s right,” he said, panting a little. “We should do this- somewhere else-”

“Killjoy,” Tony told Natasha flatly. His expression quickly changed to one of alarm as she picked up his half-drunk mug of coffee. “Ng- argh- beautiful woman, sexy, wonderful woman, my favourite deadly Russian ninja who moves too damn fast and is holding my caffeine to ransom, please, not the caffeine, not at-” he turned to eye the clock, “twelve-ten in the afternoon, but it feels earlier, okay, and moreover-”

“Couldn’t you just pour another cup?” came Bruce’s voice from the doorway. “Afternoon Phil, Pepper, Steve.”

“It’s the principle of the thing,” Tony huffed, but Pepper suspected it was more to do with the way that Natasha’s body was pressed full-length against his as he made feeble, barely-even-trying grabs for the coffee cup in her hand.

“Afternoon, Bruce,” said Steve from where he was now sat at the table with a bowl of cereal.

Behind him, Natasha said something to Tony in a low voice and in response, he surged forward and kissed her, fingers finally catching and stilling the wrist of the hand that held his coffee, although he made no move to claim it back. Pepper doubted that Natasha would give up the advantage quite so easily. She watched as Phil reached behind and eased Tony’s coffee cup from Natasha’s fingers, his eyes never once leaving his computer screen, and smoothly exchanged it for his own empty one. Pepper barely suppressed a snort of mirth. Tony-baiting really shouldn’t entertain her as much as it did, but in light of years of raised blood pressure and carelessly trampled emotions, she was entitled to a bit of amusement at his expense. Besides, he was happy and safe, she was happy and safe, no-one was in any immediate danger; it was nice to be able to relax and laugh at silly things.

Bruce shook his head with a smile and adjusted the fleece blanket draped around his shoulders before going to sit next to Steve.

“Are you cold?” Steve asked in concern, pressing his shoulder up against Bruce’s, then wrapping one arm around him instead. Though the dining room was currently the warmest room in the house, it had to have been a bit of a shock to the system to leave Tony’s arc reactor-heated bed with five superheroes snuggled up against him, and brave the rest of the tower.

“Warming up,” Bruce said, although that probably wasn’t the reason for the pink flush in his cheeks. “Aren’t you cold at all?”

“Super-soldier,” Steve reminded him. “I don’t feel the cold.” They both ignored Tony’s indignant howl of, “Coffee-vanisher!!” as he discovered the suddenly empty cup.

“So what was it that brought you into Tony’s bed last night, if you weren’t cold?” Bruce asked, genuinely curious but with a hint of sly amusement lurking underneath. It was Steve’s turn to flush pink.

“I, ah- Well, I heard you all in the corridors and as team leader it’s my responsibility to-”

Steve was saved from stumbling his way through any more excuses by a booming voice from the door.

“Mighty hawk, I fear we shall not fit through with this arrangement!”

“It’s cool, Thor, I got it all worked out, just go forwards.”

Heads turned to look at the doorway, where Thor was dutifully bending down to admit himself and Clint, who was perched on top of his shoulders, legs locked securely in front of Thor’s chest. As Thor bent down, Clint dropped gracefully backwards until he was dangling down Thor’s back, fingertips inches from the floor, allowing them to pass easily through the doorway. Tony stole his mug of coffee back from Coulson in the middle of the distraction, sipped it, and made a disgusted face.

“Ugh, it’s gone cold now, you can keep it,” he said with a shudder, turning to the pot to pour some more.

“Thank you kindly,” replied Phil, deadpan.

“Our destination has been reached! You may dismount from my shoulders,” Thor told Clint, who was still hanging upside-down.

“I’m good here, actually,” Clint said, lightly exploring Thor’s calf with the tips of his fingers. Bruce got up to make a cup of tea, and Steve’s eyes followed his progress around the kitchen, watching him assemble loose-leaf tea, a strainer and a mug. Bruce looked back to meet Steve’s gaze as though he’d felt it all along, and gave him an endearing smile.

“Want some?”

Thor was attempting to unfasten Clint’s legs from around his neck. Natasha stepped lightly in front of Clint and said, “Don’t worry, Thor. I’ll sort this one out.” She flexed her fingers threateningly.

“Naaa-aaaah, okay, okay, I’ll get down, just don’t tickle me!” Clint quickly unwound his legs from Thor and dropped to his hands, then hand-walked away from Natasha and Thor before smoothly springing back onto his feet, face pink from the blood that had rushed to it while he was upside-down. “Ta-daa- woo, headrush.” He sway-staggered over to Tony, who was still parked next to the coffee machine.

“Hello, Thor,” said Natasha, smiling up at their resident Norse god.

“Natasha,” said Thor with a brilliant smile, his voice full of warmth and invitation.

Their lips met and the level of static electricity in the room seemed to increase; Pepper thought she actually saw sparks travelling down Natasha’s hair, bright against the dark red.

Bruce returned to the table with a full cup of some flowery-scented tea, Steve having declined a mug of his own. “Are you sure you don’t want a taste?” he asked Steve.

Steve waited until he’d taken a sip and then leaned across to kiss the taste from his mouth. Bruce smiled into the kiss and brought a hand up to thread into Steve’s hair, narrowly missing overturning the cup of tea in the process.

“I feel left out,” Tony pouted to the room at large. “You guys are getting all the sexy.” He turned to Clint, stepping closer until he was a hair’s breadth away from the archer, their bare chests faintly brushing. “Where’s my sexy, Clint?”

“I’ll show you sexy,” said Clint in a near-growl, and with one hand on the back of Tony’s neck, he brought their lips together. Tony smirked and grabbed fistfuls of Clint’s loose pyjama bottoms, bringing their hips flush against each other. One thumb traced circles on Clint’s hipbone beneath his pyjamas, while the other slid around to cup his ass.

Pepper could practically feel the lust hanging heavy in the air. Phil looked up and met her eyes across the table, seeming to wryly ask if she wanted to make it four out of four and make out. Pepper shook her head, but she couldn’t help the slight laugh that escaped her at the incongruity of the situation. The six Avengers fought on the front lines of the world and their lives were made up of adrenaline and danger; she wouldn’t begrudge them this. She was glad that the six of them had each other and had formed a closer bond than anyone would have believed. It spoke to the profound level of trust that they had in one another that they could be together like this.

Tony pulled away from Clint with a slight slurping noise, one hand still resting lightly on his hip. “So, group sex later?”

Phil and Pepper simultaneously surged to their feet with a scraping of chair legs.

“You _definitely_ don’t pay me enough for this,” Pepper said, at the same time as Phil said, “Pepper and I will be taking the penthouse while you do that.”

“There’s lube and condoms in-”

“The night stand, I know, Tony,” Pepper finished for him.

They left the room to the sound of his self-satisfied laughter and Clint saying, “Hang on, we need those!” Pepper rolled her eyes and tilted her head up to address the ceiling.

“We’re going to the penthouse, JARVIS, and we’re not to be disturbed until the snow lets up. Unless it’s a life-threatening emergency, Tony can sort it out himself.”

“As you wish, Ms. Potts,” JARVIS replied.

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos to Tawabids' excellent fic _Allerleirauh (aka The New Kids on the Block)_ , a genius and engrossing OT6 AU which helped get me in the sixsome mindset while I was writing this, and also gave me the idea of Tony suggesting group sex when I was stuck for an ending. If you liked this at all in any way, you'll love that one (though it was a little bit heart-breaking) so [definitely give it a read](http://archiveofourown.org/works/498770). 
> 
> Atmosphere-wise, I also took heavy inspiration from the amazing [_Find a home, or make one_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/522071) by sirona, one of my favourite Avengers fanfics of all time. Mine is a good deal more perverted and cracky (and less poetic and lovely and beautiful), but I was basically aiming to write a scene with some down-time, removed from all the battles and angst and struggles, with the Avengers just being themselves and making the most of each other. Whatever that might entail ;)
> 
> Thanks to Feelschat for stepping up to answer my random questions about snow in New York and who actually pays Pepper's wages (even though we couldn't quite work that one out xD) and generally being inspiring and great company :D


End file.
